Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: thirstiness, dryness, parched, craving, strong desire, longing, yearning, avidity, hunger, voracity, keenness, eagerness, lust, appetite, passion, love, crave, want, covet, desire, hunger for/after, lust for/after, hanker for/after, have one's heart set on

Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation

Showing 3751 to 3775 of 5000 results

3751. License to Steal

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , miserable or missing. We pray for God to fix what is wrong. We pray for Jesus to remove the cause of our prayer, the need that has made us suddenly needy. Both types of prayer are muttered with the desire to have our needs met. The truth is we want God to remove our need and our neediness so that we won’t really need God anymore. Our prayers are uttered so we can return to our smug sense of self-sufficiency. But that’s another sermon. The tax collector in today’s text recognized that there was no ...

3752. A Small Man Who Was Given a Big Heart

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... big they are on the inside. Which, of course, brings us to our lesson for the day about Zacchaeus. Our boys and girls sing about him, Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he, He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the Savior passed that way, He looked up in that tree, And He said “Zacchaeus, you come down! For I’m going to your house today!” Zacchaeus is one of the most famous short men in all of history. Why? Because one day Jesus was passing ...

3753. The Ecclesiastical Equivalent of Homeland Security

Luke 21:5-19

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... children, a good deal of what is actually said by even Jesus can be chilling. Luke 21 is a passage we'd all rather not hear. We want Jesus to say something else. We want a different set of predictions and an alternative set of promises. We want Jesus to say, "Don't worry about trials and persecutions for I shall deliver you from them before they happen." We want Jesus to say, "The world will be so impressed by the church's rhetoric, accomplishments, and proclamations that they won't dare lay a hand on you ...

3754. Counting Our Spiritual Blessings

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... plump body and very nice dress and said, “Do I look like I’m in need of a meal? We live near Central Park in a beautiful apartment.” The pastor took another step. He was now within three feet of her. He asked, “Then why do you want to jump and kill yourself?” Her surprising reply was, “I don’t remember.” The pastor had helped the woman turn her focus off her problems and on to reasons to be thankful. They continued to talk, and she even showed him pictures of her grandchildren, with lengthy ...

3755. Dream Power

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... becomes our nightmare. And without dreams, our world becomes a nightmare. Our sleep-deprived, soul-starved nightmares have brought us visions of false successes and fake-out fantasies. Is there anything more pathetic than the pop singer Travie McCoy who croons how he wants to be a billionaire so badly? All this poor kid can envision as a “successful life” is cash and his picture on the cover of Forbes magazine. Compare that dream with the new challenges offered by real-life billionaires like the 26-year ...

3756. Back to Real Life

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... a long pause, and then he heard these words, uttered in wonder, in amazement. ‘Dad, is that you?’ Out from behind the tree stepped his youngest daughter.” (4) What if he had passed by that night? What if he had decided not to get involved? What I want to say to you on this Sunday after Christmas is this: We will only have the true spirit of Christmas when we understand that every child on this earth is ultimately our son, our daughter, our brother, our sister. It’s good that we take care of those ...

3757. We Would See Jesus

John 1:29-42

Illustration

Donald M. Tuttle

... of a few friends he had there. But when his wife was diagnosed with MS, his presence in worship took on a different thrust. He came wanting answers for his questions, peace amid life's uncertainty, healing for his wife's brokenness. He came wanting to see Jesus. And we know how that is, don't we? We too want to see Jesus. But you know what I've noticed? A lot of the time we want to see Jesus, but we prefer to do it from a distance. Take the two followers of John the Baptist in our lesson this morning. They ...

3758. Playing the Blame Game

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... comes pot, then the loss of her virginity, and, down the road, a miscarriage. When she tells her mother she is quitting high school, her mother slaps her across the face. Her father lights a cigarette and begins to talk with it between his lips. “Freedom she wants her freedom,” he says. “Now that we’re down, she’s going to kick us with her freedom.” Her mother digs her fingers into her stomach and cries, “We’ve lost her, we’ve lost her” as if she were dead. Fast forward a few years. Now ...

3759. Man Is Never Satisfied

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Illustration

John W. Rilling

... mystical poet William Blake was also a first rate artist. Once, when asked to sketch a picture of man as he really is, Blake drew a picture of a child standing on the topmost rung of a ladder reaching for the moon and crying impatiently, "I want, I want!" Blake felt that man is a creature of unfulfilled desires. He never is satisfied. "Man never is, but always to be blest." And so life is a series of rungs - infancy succeeded by youth and maturity or perhaps we should say adulthood: yesterday an infant ...

3760. Glimpses of God

Matthew 17:1-13

Illustration

John Bedingfield

... note at a time, hung out in the air, sighing breathlessly or screaming in pain, it made my heart hurt – and it made me want to ease the pain that caused that sound. When I see the babies who are brought to the altar rail here, I have to smile at them. They make me want to hold them and to tell them how beautiful they are. But when I saw my own children as babies, they made me want to be a better person, so that I could be what they deserved as a father. These glimpses of God, whether Chet Atkins ...

3761. I Don’t Weed Because…

Mt 13:24-30, 36-43

Humor Illustration

King Duncan

... one to run into a clean window and get hurt. I don't wax floors because . . .I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt then I'll feel terrible (plus they may sue me.) I don't disturb cobwebs because .. . I want every creature to have a home of their own. I don't Spring Clean because . .. I love all the seasons and don't want the others to get jealous. I don't put things away because .. . my husband will never be able to find them again. I don't do gourmet meals when I entertain because . . . I don't ...

3762. Power!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... town quickly. He heads to Louisiana and begins a new life. What would be in store for him? In his own unique way, Sonny wants to start things right. He makes his way into a river, stands waist-deep in the water, lifts his eyes and hands to heaven ... picture at the Jordan — there is the crowd, John, Jesus, and the dove. The Holy Spirit. Do not forget the dove. Clearly, Mark wants us to understand that from this moment on, Jesus and his ministry are empowered by the living presence of the Holy Spirit. Yes, ...

3763. The Voice

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... head and those age-dimmed eyes to the boy and says, "No, I did not call. Go back and lie down. But if the voice comes again, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" Now the boy's mind is racing a mile a minute. What could the Lord want with him? He had never heard of anyone else being called this way. So, with a little shrug of the shoulders, it is back to bed again. And sure enough, a fourth time it comes: "Samuel ... Samuel!" "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." And the rest, as they ...

3764. Welcoming Jesus

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... repay your generosity with a thumb of the nose. They aggravate, irritate, and infuriate. Finally, they get married and want a huge reception replete with ice sculptures for $22,000 or more. They are trouble. What about their ... ] Smart man. I wish, after almost 2,000 years of hearing our text, the world (not to mention the church) was that smart. Jesus says, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" (v. 35). We get an inkling of that truth occasionally in special lives ...

3765. This House for You

Matthew 16:13-20

Illustration

Johnny Dean

... poor living conditions of a certain carpenter who lived nearby. So the rich man went to the carpenter and hired him to build a house. "Now this isn't just any old house you'll be building," the rich man said to the carpenter. "I want you to build this house for a very special person. I want you to use only the finest building materials, hire the best workmen you can find, and spare no expense. I'm going to be out of town for a couple of months, and I would like to see the house finished when I return ...

3766. It’s God’s Will?

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... cells? If it was self-inflicted — did God lead her down that darkened pit of depression and hopelessness? Do you see the dilemma? On the one side I can only assume those church folks were offering words of comfort to young Harold, "It's God's will." They wanted him to know that God is in control. This world is not governed by dumb luck, the stars, or chaos, but by a sovereign Lord who is overseeing every detail of our lives. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge. Every hair on your head ...

3767. Integrity: Words with Meaning

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... most important thing in acting is honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made." The people of Corinth were watching Paul. If he could be trusted, then his message could be trusted. We in the church are being watched, also. People can sniff out a fraud. They want to know if you are a person of integrity. I heard a pastor tell the story of a hectic and busy day. It was one of those days that had to be divided into fifteen-minute segments for it all to fit. As he went from meeting to meeting, visit ...

3768. I Love You, Too

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... and in other places a conversation with a mortal can change his mind. In some places he's insisting that people must follow his laws if they want to live, and in other places he's merciful and ready to give people another chance when they stray. You see, what we have in the ... seen God. It is God, the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known" (John 1:18). If we want to know what God is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus. In his epistle, John is able to elaborate more on what ...

3769. Life in The Spirit

Romans 8:22-27

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... Spirit has many manifestations, but we should note that the essence of Spirit is God working in our lives — calling us, seeking us out, wanting us to know that we are loved, that we are known. This is the vision of the Spirit that Peter notes in his ... We held hands, and I did not know what to pray. I groaned inwardly — her husband's death was imminent, yet his wife and I both wanted him to live. So, I prayed, too, for his life to be spared, though I felt inwardly that this prayer would not be answered in ...

3770. Eyes on the Prize

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... of the spirit that is intertwined with and that even enlivens the material dimension. It is, however, the reality of which Paul is speaking here, a reality that we need to recover. Paul wants to drive this point home to the Corinthians, so he uses two other metaphors: "temporary and eternal" and "seen and unseen." He wants to emphasize as strongly as possible that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ point us to a reality that is deeper and richer than human history would suggest, a reality ...

3771. Time for the Offering

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... people for money," is a familiar refrain. It does often seem a bit dirty, even a bit common, to come down from the lofty sermon and prayers and anthem to the offering — to ask people, indeed, to tell people that they should be giving money, that God wants us to do that. Doing this is often difficult. Yet we remind the interns (and ourselves) that this is a special place in worship, a place where we have the opportunity to put feet on our ministry and our lives, a place to practice incarnation, and a ...

3772. Welcome to the Center of Life

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... in Jesus Christ." This second theme of the welcoming of the Gentiles will continue throughout this letter. The Gentiles are invited into the center of all of life through God's gracious power in Jesus Christ. This second part of the mystery not only means that God wants the Gentiles. It also means that we belong to one another, Jew and Gentile. As the author will put it in the second chapter: We are in the house! "Welcome to the center of life!" That is what the letter to the Ephesians asks us to hear ...

3773. Our Fair Share

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... intuitive sense of fairness and unfairness. It's like Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally, in the classic "Charlie Brown Christmas Special." You may recall that at one point Sally is writing a letter to Santa Claus and in the process generates an enormous list of toys she wants. Then at the conclusion of her North Pole-bound missive she writes, "But if that is too much to carry, just send cash." When Charlie Brown sees this and despairs over his own sister's greed, Sally indignantly responds, "All I ...

3774. The Ball Game

Mark 13:1-31

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... for, aren’t there? Take your garden. When you plant your seeds in the spring you don’t plan to harvest them the next day. You wait until they’re mature and then you enjoy them. Bill: Yeah, that’s different. Frank: Or what about a couple who want to start a family? They just don’t get instant kids ya-know. Whether you have them by adoption or naturally it all takes time, but it makes the actual event that much sweeter. Sometimes it takes patience. Bill: I’m not convinced. Frank: (turns and yells ...

3775. Samuel Was the Search Committee

1 Samuel 15:34-35, 16:1-13

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... but had to stay and tend his sheep. He was the one chosen because God looks not on appearance; God looks on the heart. Some people say, "I'm all used up or I'm too handicapped or I'm too old or I'm too young. God will never want me." That may be what David thought that day as Samuel, a search committee of one, came around looking for a new king to take Saul's place. The farthest thing from David's mind was that he would even be considered, much less chosen. Chances are it was the ...

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